Syria: Counterrevolutionary ISIS/Daesh attacks again the
Liberation Forces with the Help of Assad’s Army

By Michael Pröbsting, International Secretary of the
Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (RCIT), 25.11.2017,www.thecommunists.net

Once again, the counterrevolutionary ISIS/Daesh forces have launched an attack against the liberated
areas innortheastHama. (1)Once more, they do so in undisguised collaboration with the army of the
murderous Assad regime.(2)

This surprise attack allowed ISIS/Daesh to conquer more than 15 villages (incl. Talhan, Ateeq, Tahtouh,
Abu Al-Kassor, Abu Hareq, Maasran, Alia). Furthermore, while the pocket controlled by Daesh is located in-between the territories controlled by the rebel forces and the Assadist forces, it is
characteristic that while there are heavy clashed between Daesh and the rebel forces, no clashes between Daesh and the regime’s forces in this area have been reported until now! (See Map 1
below)

Once again, the ISIS/Daesh forces, who had no stronghold in this region in the weeks before, emerged out of the blue. The only explanation for this is
thatISIS/Daesh forces advanced unscathed through areas controlled by Assadist forces, i.e. they
obviously did so in consultation with the regime. Rebel forces already accused the regime that it made adeal to evacuate ISIS fighters from Deir
Ezzor in eastern Syria to eastern Hama in order to fight the liberation forces there.(3)
(See Map 2 below)

The Deal between the Assad Regime and Daesh/ISIS

As we reported in the past, this is not the first time that such a collaboration of Assad and Daesh
takes place in order to smash the remaining liberated areas. It is noteworthy that meanwhile even the most hardened supporters of Assad and Putin have to admit that the regime has made such deals
with ISIS/Daesh. For example, the fanatical pro-Assad/Putin intelligence website South Front had to confess that the Syrian regime made a deal with ISIS/Daesh in late September to move
their fighters through its territory to the liberated areas in Idlib.

“On Thursday, an
agreement was reached between the Syrian government and ISIS fighters besieged in the eastern Hama pocket. The agreement will allow ISIS members to withdraw to Idlib governorate according to the
Syrian Radio station Sham FM. On Wednesday, the Syrian government allowed 1,500 civilians and ISIS family members to withdraw to an area controlled by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in Idlib
governorate.”(4)

The Assadist supporters justified such collaboration with the following shallow claim: “ISIS fighters could choose Idlib because they had excellent relationships with HTS fighters there as they both worked in
weapons and oil trafficking, according to opposition sources.”

This, of course, was a cynical and brazen lie as everyone could see: when the ISIS/Daesh fighters
entered Idlib with the help of Assad’s army, they immediately encountered heavy resistance from the liberation forces – in particular from Hayyat Tahir al-Sham (HTS). After bloody battles
for weeks, the liberation forces finally succeeded to defeat the counterrevolutionary ISIS/Daesh forces.

Furthermore, why did the Assadists, who always claim to be the most fanatical enemies of Daesh/ISIS not
finish them off? Tellingly, the regime did not even claim that it got something from Daesh/ISIS in exchange for their evacuation – in opposite for example to the deal between Hezbollah and Daesh
in late August. The later deal “stipulated the withdrawal of 300 Daesh fighters from Lebanon’s eastern
barrens to the Iraqi-Syrian border, in exchange for the release of Hezbollah prisoners, and revealing the fate of Lebanese soldiers taken hostage by the terrorist group.” (5)

But the deal between the regime and Daesh in late September did not involve such an exchange. The Daesh
forces were trapped and exhausted in a small pocket encircled by Assad’s army. It would have been no problem for them to finish them off. But the regime and their Russian backers have different
interests. This deal was purely driven by the Assad regime’s calculation to use these terrorists against the remaining forces defending the Syrian Revolution.

Let us draw attention, en passant, to the fact that the US/YPG coalition recently made a similar cynical
deal with Daesh/ISIS in mid-October. When they had encircled the last pockets of Daesh fighters in Raqqa (in the local stadium and the central hospital) where they could have easily finished them
off, they “suddenly” allowed 4,000 Daesh fighters and their families to evacuate out of the city! (6)

Resistance of the Liberation Forces

This time again the liberation forces – mostly the petty-bourgeois nationalist Islamist HTS as well as
various petty-bourgeois nationalist FSA factions – are fighting hard to stop the advance of Daesh. According to some reports they have managed, for now, torepel an ISIS attempt to capture Mustariah as well as the Al-Shiha village.(7)

At the same time, the Syrian regime with massive support of foreign militias and the Russian Air Force,
is seeking to advance towards the strategic Abu Duhour military airport in the southern countryside of Aleppo. Added to this is the threat of the Turkish army and their FSA mercenaries which
started invading Idlib in the North. (8)

In short, the Syrian Revolution continues to be under heavy attack by the reactionary regime as well as
the counterrevolutionary ISIS/Daesh forces. This demonstrates once more how ridiculous the claims by Assad and Putin and their numerous supporters amongst the Stalinist and liberal “left” are
that they would fight the “jihadist terrorists”. In fact, they join hands with the “jihadist terrorists” of Daesh in order to defeat the Syrian liberation forces which they bizarrely denounce as
“jihadist terrorists”!

As the RCIT has already pointed out in past reports, the collaboration of Daesh and Assad in northeast
Hama is not surprising at all. (9)While they
certainly are opponents, they have a joint interest in defeating the Syrian Revolution.

The Syrian Revolution Continues despite many Setbacks and
Traps

The popular uprising in Syria which started in March 2011 is still continuing despite many setbacks and
despite the fact that it is endangered by the treacherous policy of various leadership factions among the rebels. These factions are ready to join the reactionary negotiations charades in Astana,
Sochi and Geneva which are all dominated by the imperialist Great Powers as well as regional powers (e.g. Russia, Iran, Turkey, US, Saudi Arabia). As we have repeatedly warned, these negotiations
are a trap by the imperialists in order to disarm and liquidate the Syrian Revolution. (10)

The only way forward is to reject all imperialist traps of such fake negotiations and to continue and
deepen the revolution by basing it on popular committees and militias. Most importantly, the most advanced workers and youth in Syria need to unite into a revolutionary party based on a program
for socialist liberation. (11)

The RCIT continues its support for the liberation struggle of
the Syrian workers and peasants despite the extremely difficult situation it faces today. When the Revolution is under attack from all sides – the Assad dictatorship, Russian as well as US
imperialism, Daesh/ISIS, the Turkish Erdoğan regime, and finally various FSA mercenaries – it is all the more important to maintain international solidarity with those who have not given up the
struggle.

(11) See on this e.g.Michael Pröbsting: Is the Syrian Revolution at its End? Is
Third Camp Abstentionism Justified? An essay on the organs of popular power in the liberated area of Syria, on the character of the different sectors of the Syrian rebels, and on the failure of
those leftists who deserted the Syrian Revolution, 5 April 2017,https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/syrian-revolution-not-dead/